A bright flash rose behind her, casting her shadow across the damp grass of the clearing before it winked out again. The halfling turned and found Corian staring up at the sky too. His nose twitched. “I always knew this place would be good for something.”
“Uh, where’s the portal?”
“Don’t worry about it. We’re anchored to the other side, or at least I am. Don’t run off through the woods unless you wanna take the long way back.”
“I don’t even know where we are.”
Corian waved her off and stepped farther out into the meadow. “Doesn’t matter. The important thing is that we’re here. And it’s safe, which is a lot more than I can say about the basement.”
Moving silently across the grass after him, Cheyenne swept her gaze across the clearing and searched for anything moving through the trees, just in case. When she glanced back over her shoulder, the portal was still closed. He better teach me that trick, too.
“All right. Bring it over here and set it down.” The Nightstalker waved her forward, nodding absently at the grass in front of him.
“There something special about this place?” She raised an eyebrow and moved slowly toward him. “‘Cause I just met you, and it’s a little weird that you took me out to the middle of nowhere at night without an explanation.”
“Right. I saved your ass on the front lawn two nights ago just so I could kidnap you tonight and steal a drow Cuil Aní I couldn’t use if I jumped into a spawning pool.”
The halfling gave him a blank stare.
“We need a lot of open space for this, Cheyenne. Without witnesses. Or casualties.”
“What?”
He pointed at the grass again and winced when she tossed the legacy box onto the ground.
“It’s been through worse.”
Shaking his head, the Nightstalker ran a fur-covered hand over what looked more like a mane than hair and sighed heavily. “Here’s the deal. As a drow, even a halfling, you have certain abilities inherent to your race. Some of them you’ve figured out pretty well on your own.”
The halfling folded her arms. “Yeah, relatively.”
“But that’s just the surface, kid. There is more power running through your veins than you can imagine right now. The rest of it has to be unlocked, bit by bit, like making it to the next level in a videogame. You’ve played plenty of videogames, right?”
“Not really.”
He shot her a sideways glance and pursed his lips. “Yeah, but you get the point. With enough focus and enough time spent training with each new ability, you will eventually master one and move on to the next. Then, when you get through every part of your magic that needs to be understood and controlled, the metal box you just tossed aside will know. All the different layers will slide into play one by one, and when you’ve fully embraced everything you were meant to do, it’ll open. That’s your true legacy.”
Licking her lips, Cheyenne glanced down at the copper artifact in the grass and frowned. “What’s in the box?”
Corian sighed. “You wouldn’t be able to handle it now. Just focus on the present, yeah? It’s the only way to get where you need to be.”
“That’s awfully Zen of you.”
“Nothing wrong with a little Zen. You might wanna try it if you want to get through the trials and solve the puzzle box.”
The halfling tilted her head. “Trials?”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. So, tell me. You pull out any new types of magic lately without being able to control it?”
She almost burst out laughing. “You could say that. I had a bunch of black flames burst out of my skin the other day. And a shitload of power I didn’t get to use.”
“That’s something we should hold off on unless it’s the only thing you’ve noticed.” Corian wrinkled his nose. “Then we might be in trouble. Anything else?”
“A shield.” Cheyenne shrugged. “Black energy forcefield or something.”
“Go on.”
Sighing, she went back across the grass and shook out her hands, the coiled chains around her wrists clanking. “That’s basically it. I’ve conjured it a handful of times. You know, to save people.”
“Yes, Cheyenne. I know what a shield is.”
She shot him a sarcastic glare. “But it’s a knee-jerk reaction, I guess. I can’t bring it up on command. Believe me, I’ve tried.”
“Well, it’s a start, I guess.” Cocking his head, the Nightstalker looked down at the thick silver ring on his thumb, which had a thick raised circle welded to the band. “Good thing you found me before you killed yourself trying to use the black flames if you ever managed to conjure them again.”
“You can’t kill yourself with your own magic.” The halfling blinked. “Can you?”
“The list of what one can do with their magic is long. Maybe even endless, once you’ve mastered the abilities you were born to manifest. But trying to use a certain power without being fully prepared for it, without knowing what it might do or how much it might take out of you? Don’t tell me you’ve never pushed your magic too hard and worn yourself out.”
“Once or twice.” At drow speed.
“Well, then. Take that experience and multiply it by a thousand. Chances are the answer to the equation is death. Most of the time.” Corian pressed down on the top of the metal circle in his ring, and a thin lid flipped open to reveal a ridiculously tiny compartment. He removed something just as tiny, closed the silver lid again, and offered it to the halfling in his open palm. “Here.”
Cheyenne stared at the glowing purple bead, which was a little bigger than a grain of rice. “What is it?”
“A seed from the Nimlothar.” When she gave him another blank look, he
